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MENIFEE: Residents focus on what to do about sludge

About 20 people attend a meeting. They want City Council to direct staff to open an investigation into the dumping of sludge in Menifee, but they have seen no progress, said Marc Miller, a former planning commissioner

Sludge is a big problem in Menifee, some residents say, and they are not going to take it anymore.

About 20 residents gathered at the Wooden Nickel Ranch in Menifee on Saturday, Jan. 12, to air concerns and figure out what to do about it.

They browsed through records and photos of sludge scattered on picnic benches, chatting with each other about the problem.

Many said they felt that sludge was dumped in Menifee, that it is dangerous and government officials are doing nothing to protect residents.

Residents have been urging the City Council to direct staff to open an investigation into the dumping of sludge in Menifee, but they have seen no progress, said Marc Miller, a former planning commissioner.

âItâs negligence of public safety. Thatâs (the councilâs) primary concern, the safety of the public. When we publicly voice our concerns, they retaliate by saying, âProve it,ââ Miller said.

Some officials have brushed off residentsâ concerns as paranoia, so concerned residents need to make a comprehensible argument, resident Dennis Tuffin said.

âI believe thereâs something important happening, not just the vague suspicions of some nice but unbalanced people,â said Tuffin. âIf the city government doesnât want to respond, thatâs their option. We need to make our concerns more coherent and more persuasive.â

The meeting was originally sponsored by Citizens for Honest Government, headed by formal mayoral candidate John F. Smith, and open to the public, but that changed at the last minute. The Committee Against Toxic Exposure, headed by local resident Janine Matelko, took the helm and closed the door to the public.

This caused Matelko to order several people to leave, including a representative of the Eastern Municipal Water District and Earl Phillips, a private resident.

âYou are spreading false information and propaganda among the public,â Matelko said to Phillips, pointing at him. âYouâre on private property. You may remove yourself.â

Phillips, with a surprised look, said he did not know what Matelko was talking about.

âI didnât come to start trouble, I came to listen,â Phillips said after he left the meeting.

He speculated the reason for his requested removal was a recent meeting. Councilman Greg August, who is his neighbor, asked what he thought of the sludge opposition, and Phillips said he felt it was unfounded.

He said he wanted to attend the meeting to hear what the complaints were about.

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